Plaguelords
Back to Races ---- Buildings ''Hall of Plague'' The Hall of Plague is a very unique building, not only can is cast a horrific spell, but it doesn't follow the typical pattern that all keeps follow. Its hit points are low and only slightly increase during "some" level upgrades. In addition, its view range increases as it levels up, too. However, the building is still massive, more so than some other keeps and it doesn't cost gold to build - crystal and stone only. You will also notice that the building seems to made out of other Plaguelord buildings, such as a Plague Shrine and Laboratory. Like with some other races, the Plaguelord keep is where their Titan is produced, so you'll need to make sure it's placed well at the start of the game to ensure Lord Antharg doesn't get stuck when he arrives on the field. That Chaos Plague it can cast can be horrific to face, but it's quite a mixed bag. On one hand it can potentially end an enemy sweeping the map, reducing their powerful army to a war-ridden mess. But on the other hand, it simply wont save the Plaguelord player from a strong invasion - only weakening them for who ever they face next. It also costs an appalling amount of 1000 crystal. This factor alone will probably prevent you from ever using it, as you'll never have that much crystal when you need it. The only time the spell will be beneficial to the Plaguelord player is to cut the hit points down of very powerful enemy units, such as Dragons, allowing the Plaguelords to quickly dispose of the threat before it does too much damage. Contagion 1: Adds an interactive ability to Halls of Plague, allowing them to cast Chaos Plague at level 1 costing 1000 crystal. Contagion 2: Increases the level of the Chaos Plague cast to level 2. (Requires Contagion 1 and Hall of Plague level 2) Contagion 3: Increases the level of the Chaos Plague cast to level 3. (Requires Contagion 2 and Hall of Plague level 3) Contagion 4: Increases the level of the Chaos Plague cast to level 4. (Requires Contagion 3 and Hall of Plague level 4) Contagion 5: Increases the level of the Chaos Plague cast to level 5. (Requires Contagion 4 and Hall of Plague level 5) ''Cess Pool'' Cess Pools are the Plaguelords basic and more common production buildings. They produce builders and the most basic infantry. Because of this, you'll find yourself building quite a decent amount of these almost immediately at the start of the game. Fortunately, they're relatively small in size, especially for a production building, and would build quite quick if it weren't for the Zombie's lower than average build skill. This means you can quite easily get many up and running without any hassle. Despite producing just basic infantry when it comes to offensive units, late game Ghouls can still be useful, so you'll still be producing units from these buildings even when you have no mines that need to be filled. ''Laboratory'' The Laboratory is purely a research building that power-ups the Plaguelords basic infantry (Slimes and Ghouls) and allows for Slimes to be produced at the Cess Pool. The building is about average in size and quite expensive in regards to its gold cost. As the building and its researches are available right at the start of the game (after building your keep) you can, if you choose to do so, power-up your infantry immediately. The cost of these researches don't usually clash with leveling up you main keep, but can hit your infantry production hard. Acid 1: +5 damage for Slimes. Acid 2: Adds an additional +5 damage for Slimes, making +10 together. (Requires Acid 1) Acid 3: Adds a further +5 damage for Slimes, making +15 altogether. (Requires Acid 2) Fever 1: +2 speed for Ghouls. Fever 2: Adds an additional +2 speed for Ghouls, making +4 together. (Requires Fever 1) Fever 3: Adds a further +2 speed for Ghouls, making +6 altogether. (Requires Fever 2) Mutation 1: +2 combat for Ghouls. Mutation 2: Adds an additional +2 combat for Ghouls, making +4 together. (Requires Mutation 1) Mutation 3: Adds a further +2 combat for Ghouls, making +6 altogether. (Requires Mutation 2) Units ''Zombie - Undead Builder'' The Zombie is the Basic builder of the Plaguelords. Although tougher than other builders, Zombies are still fragile and weak. They can cause Disease which the Plaguelord race can abuse, punishing those who try to slay them. But really, your Zombies should be kept away from any form of combat, especially since Plaguelord Zombies do not get the Feast of Garok upgrade that the Undead get. As for building - Zombies are the worse available builder in the game, equaling Thralls for build skill, but possessing much lower movement speed. ''Slime - Plaguelords' Scout'' Slimes are essentially scout infantry for Plaguelords due to their high speed and surprisingly good view. They have a chance to cause disease and deal 5 crushing damage (that can be upgraded to 20) which can stun units upon scoring a critical hit. Typically, Slimes should be spammed and sent out to explore the map and disease enemy Heroes or heavy units that they encounter along their way. ''Ghoul - Plaguelords' Basic Infantry'' Although they've been hit with a few nerfs in their life time, they are still much better infantry than Slimes. They can be upgraded to be faster and have better combat which makes them capable of tackling late game infantry to some passable standard, especially with their crushing type damage that can render an enemy unit all but useless upon landing a critical hit. Those aforementioned combat researches certainly play towards this. Oddly enough, they don't actually cause Disease despite the in-game help box saying they do. ''Dragonfly - Basic Flier'' There aren't any basic fliers that cause disease, so the Plaguelords had to settle for one that caused poison instead. (I never understood why Bats never caused disease.) But their poison is weak and they cost that sacred resource - crystal. It may not seem a lot at first but soon mounts up when you need to build a swarm of them in order to make them actually accomplish something. Stat wise, they're terrible. You're better off forgetting they even exist. ''Gazer - Plaguelords' Basic Missile Unit'' These eyes are the basic missile units of the Plaguelords dealing 15 electric damage but at a very short range of just 4. Gazers should be spammed and force fired on a single target to deal maximum damage, as electrical attack do not scatter after missing. They can cross water which can be used to surprise enemies or even be used to target weak points in an enemy base that's positioned near a coast. They can also be used to fill towers, increasing their range and damage, but Plaguelord towers already deal electrical damage so the attack types wont change. ''Bone Catapult'' Bone Catapults are an inferior variant of the standard Catapult and the main reason is their range. While range 12 would be great for any other unit, for a siege weapon it's poor. However, Plaguelords are lacking in the range department, and a long range splash attack can work well for them in the form of artillery. With Slimes and Ghouls pinning the enemy down, Bone Catapults can rain death upon them, dealing the threatening damage that makes up for the lack of offense from the aforementioned units. As for building destruction - Spores and Eyes of Flames can do a quicker job, but Bone Catapults with a Hydra meet shield can do the job more safely, being able to absorb common arrow attack and thus being more cost efficient. ''Spore - Plaguelords' Suicide Unit'' Spores are suicide units for Plaguelords, dealing 40 fire damage (that can be upgraded) which can utterly devastate buildings. They do require a little micromanagement to perform at their best but being able to cross water allows them to bombard buildings where the enemy least expects and where it's difficult to prepare for. The upgrades that are available to them are incredibly expensive and only offer minor improvements to their damage. ''Hydra - Plaguelords' Advanced Melee Unit'' Hydras are very important to Plaguelords due to their good stats, resistance to piercing and slashing typed splash damage. They also cause fear, too, but that's more of an added bonus. They can handle many different units through sheer strength and sponge common archer arrows with their piercing resistance. Unfortunately though, Hydras are weak to the common slashing type damage that can undermine their anti-infantry capabilities at times. Their cost also clashes horribly with the rest of the Plaguelord race, making it difficult to produce these when you need them and without breaking your economy. ''Pyrohydra - Plaguelords' Elite Melee Unit'' Pyrohydras cost a stupid amount, and of resources that the Plaguelords are always in need of. Their very high combat, large damage amount and a fire typed attack can demolish buildings and infantry alike. But despite being more durable than the standard Hydra, its lack of a useful resistance and the same weakness to slashing that plagues the other Hydras can make it difficult for the Pyrohydra to stand out in any particular role. Although it can demolish buildings - it can't take common tower attacks to the extent that the standard Hydra can. With a weakness to common infantry and no common infantry resistance - it wont last long against such units. Whatever you want the Pyrohydra to do, there are other units in the Plaguelord army that are better and cheaper to do the job. ''Cryohydra'' - '''Plaguelords' Elite Melee Unit Cryohydras differentiate themselves from their fiery brethren with a rare frost type attack and a more manageable cost. Although they suffer from similar drawbacks to the other Hydras, namely high cost and slashing type weakness, they can be helpful against infantry where their frost type attack is rarely resisted and has the chance of freezing the enemy, as well as inflicting fear for further debilitate them. Of course, they need great amounts of support to function well and their high cost makes each one that much more important to keep alive, but they can be crucial in some situations that no other unit in the Plaguelord army can fill. ''Eye of Flame - Plaguelords' Advanced Missile Unit'' Eyes of Flames are great troops that can punish the enemy for spamming units with their fire attack that is akin to those seen from Dragons, albeit much weaker. Like all floating eyes, they can cross water to catch enemies off guard and, by being ranged, can abuse these traits to ambush enemy melee troops without them being able to strike back. However, they're quite expensive and their crystal costs clashes with a lot of other things in the Plaguelord army. Still, if you can get to field a load of them at once, then you can decimate just about everything that doesn't have "Dragon" in its name, including buildings. It's no wonder that they've been nerfed numerous times. ''Wyvern - Advanced Flier'' Wyverns are actually pretty good. But unfortunately for the Plaguelords, they cost gold and crystal, and a lot of it. It's that one and only reason why Plaguelords rarely use them, otherwise they would be a great addition to the Plaguelord ranks - offering a piercing attack to help keep Orcs at bay and using their speed to hit priority targets fast and relocate their position at a moments notice, greatly helping overcome the Plaguelords natural lack of speed. Before producing some, you really have to consider how much it will harm your economy to do so, and decide what is truly needed at that time. ''Plague Priest - Plaguelords' General'' Like with all Plaguelord units, Plague Priests are expensive and heavily compete in cost with other Plaguelord units and more. However, their amazing 40 magic type damage that can hit both ground and air units can be invaluable. These units certainly hit hard and their Plague Cloud spell can leave a lasting mark on those that try to escape them. In addition to that, with a high resistance stat and a special resistance to magic, Plague Priests can soak up just about anything an enemy spell caster can thrown at them. Their other spell "Eye of Oros" isn't particularly good considering that Plague Priests arrive very late in the game where not much scouting is required, if any at all. But if you happen to have one in your retinue, then you could make use of this spell at the start of the game - removing hidden map and spying out the enemy in advance. ''Eye of Oros'' The Eye of Oros is purely a scouting unit that is summoned into play by a Plague Priest. They have the highest speed in the game (except for very high level Heroes) and are highly durable. Despite the in-game help tip specifically stating they have good viewing range, there are plenty of other units which actually have a better view range naturally. But with its extreme speed, high durability and good view range, it can quickly uncover "hidden map" and not even be phased by enemy proximity. Whether you're playing a version of the game with Summon Timers, or not, Eyes of Oros will always disappear after some time has passed. Unfortunately for the Plaguelords, being summoned by their General means they wont hit the field until tier 5, where most of the hidden map would have been uncovered. However, if you take a Plague Priest into your retinue and start the game with one, then their spell to summon Eyes of Oros can be put to good use. ''Swamp Dragon - Elite Flier'' Plaguelords aren't particularly short of fire splash attacks, but they certainly wont pass up on the opportunity to produce a Swamp Dragon because of it. Typically, Dragons can be tricky to get a hold of, but more so with Plaguelord than any other race. Because of this, you would be forgiven for not owning one when your resources are demanded else where just to keep you in the game. Fortunately for the Plaguelords, with some clever use of their units, they can achieve near enough everything a Swamp Dragon could do for them. This is mostly down to Eyes of Flames and their ability to cross water, and Hydras / Wyverns spreading fear. Of course, a Swamp Dragon is always a great choice and if you can afford one without crumbling in the process, then go for it. ''Dragonliche - Elite Flier'' To produce a Dragonliche is comparable to pulling a Rabbit out of a hat. Although possible, it requires great effort and can surprise the onlookers. Due to how much of a bad shape the Plaguelord economy is in, it's incredibly difficult to get a Dragonliche in play and maintain your position in the game. Many sacrifices have to be made in order to do this and can easily cost the game. However, if you do manage to pull it off, then you have an excellent unit to lead your army into war. With a Dragonliche you can distract archers and tower, allowing for Spores to float on in and implode the enemy base. Similarly, Eyes of Flames can follow safely in the Dragonliche's wake and proceed to burn down towers. With some micromanagement, Plague Priests can work along side Dragonliches to wall almost all enemy attacks - Dragonliches for physical missiles, Plague Priests for elemental attacks. ''Lord Antharg - Plaguelords' Titan'' One of the strongest melee Titans in the game, Lord Antharg, one of the four horsemen, resembles a mutant green slug, armed with two powerful twin scimitars. Characterized by its fearsome appearance, it has one of the highest damage amounts in the game and is durable and resistant to damage from crushing. Although, his speed isn't the best and his attack type could have been better to take advantage of his immense 36 combat. (But at least it's not piercing like poor King Lunarion's!) Lord Antharg can form a mobile bulwark along side standard Hydras and Plague Priests who, when combined, can sponge nearly anything the enemy can throw at them. Strategy Overall The Plaguelords are an average race. They have access to a massive range of damage types, resistances and powers, but fail to efficiently put them into play easily due to a poor economy and infrastructure. Given the time to build their economy and dominate a sufficient portion of the map, the Plaguelords can become a significant powerhouse that nearly every race finds difficult to overcome. Unfortunately for them, their expenses in both resources and time means that they usually struggle against most opponents instead. ''The Race'' Units The first period of the game for Plaguelords includes their basic units and access to their research upgrades. Unless the player has masses of spare Metal, there is literally no point at all in producing Slimes (since 1.03, Piercing resistance was removed from them) because they are worse than Ghouls other than in their Speed (which is upgradable for Ghouls anyway). Access to the Gazer and Bone Catapults early on in the game is useful for the Plaguelords, but the latter conflicts with various research and upgrades so is much harder to use, although it should be whenever possible. By this stage, it is possible for the Plaguelords to siege an enemy base, but in doing so the Plaguelords may sacrifice the resources that could've been put into keep upgrades and other useful options. Dragonflies are not very useful and should be avoided by A Plaguelord player. By keep level 3 comes the first powerful tank-styled unit, the Hydra. They bear somewhat average damage, but they have very useful resistance to Piercing, a high Combat stat and splash damage. Beware that they also have a vulnerability to common Slashing damage and that their cost conflicts with many upgrades and researches. By now, the Plaguelords should have the tools necessary to lay waste to races with masses of Piercing weaponry (like the Empire). Spores are quite expensive (their cost conflicts with construction and keep upgrades) and are extremely hard to upgrade. They should only be used if the Plaguelord has a lot of resources to spare. Keep level 4 gives access to a massive range of elemental creatures. This is the point in the game where the Plaguelords can truly put the pressure on their opponents. Unfortunately however, they require very expensive and time consuming Hydra Cave upgrades - and it gets even worse from there (see the Buildings section). At this time, the Plaguelords can either 'make it' or 'break it'. The time and resources that needs to be put into infrastructure can be enough by itself to put the Plaguelords out of the game. Once this is accomplished though, the Plaguelords can now get access to the true powerhouses of the race. Cryhohydras are more formidable than Hydras, and most importantly they mostly cost Metal which means they don't conflict with the other upgrades, research and units so much. They even take the same time to build as normal Hydras. Pyrohydras are yet another power up from Hydras and Cryohydras. Whilst Pyrohydras do have a lot of potential to wreak havoc on enemy forces, the power up is somewhat minor from Cryohydras and their costs in both resources and time is phenomenal. The only reason to use Pyrohydras would be to use against opponents abusing fire damage, because otherwise Hydras and Cryhoydras generally do more for the money. Eyes of Flame are amongst the best units available to the Plaguelords. They use a similar firebreath attack to Fire Dragons, setting enemies on fire and devastating bases - just make sure that they are backed up sufficiently by units such as the different types of Hydras and/or Ghouls depending upon the damage type prevalence of the opponent. Wyverns are difficult to use with the Plaguelords do to their costs in Gold and Crystal. They are useful if the enemy has many units vulnerable to piercing and having another damage type can be useful. Wyverns are a very good substitute to Hydras as they are airborne and are faster. Producing Dragonliches or Swamp Dragons is difficult because the Plaguelords use a lot of Gold and Crystal. Lastly, Plague Priests are expensive melee generals which can cause some problems for certain races. They give access to Magic damage and Magic resistance whilst providing nice air cover (similarly to many Plaguelord units) and power. Even if the opponent slays a Plague Priest, they will have a lasting mark left on their forces in terms of Disease via the Plague Cloud spell. Buildings Plaguelord buildings are mostly similar to other race's. The majority of structures cost Stone and Crystal, which can conflict with some of the Plaguelord units. The Laboratory costs no Stone but costs a lot of Gold instead and the Plague Shrine costs 100 of Gold, Stone and Crystal so is harder to afford, but can be well worth it if Plague Priests are needed. The Hall of Plague can be upgraded to cast a very powerful spell. The Contagion spell costs a lot to upgrade and a lot of Crystal to cast but it Diseases and damages all enemies within an area around the structure (however, it cannot kill anything, it's similar in that way to the Rot spell), which can easily be enough to fend off attacks if the player has a lot of resources. Plaguelord Towers are quite reasonable, and are generally more useful than High Elven towers. Both have the same damage type, but the Plaguelord tower has a lot more hits and a bit less damage. The only problem with Plaguelord towers is that they can only naturally be upgraded with more Electrical damage which means some retinue units may be needed to change the damage type. The first big problem with Plaguelord buildings is that they cost a lot to upgrade and their researches cost a lot to do. In particular, the Hydra cave can be upgraded to a Fire Cave for 600 Metal or an Ice Cave for 400 Crystal, which creates a huge dent in the Plaguelord economy.Once the Hydra Cave has been upgraded, another big problem arises. Because the Hydra Cave upgrades are split between the Ice Cave and Fire Cave, not all units can be accessed from one upgrade so both need to be done to get access to more units. Unbelievably, this means that the upgraded Hydra Cave cannot even produce the normal Hydras anymore, so if you need access to plenty of special Hydras and normal Hydras, you need to build a ton more Hydra Caves which can slow the Plaguelords down to a crawl. For example, if you want to be able to produce 2 of each Hydra at the same time, the structure costs will total 2100 Metal, 900 Stone, 800 Crystal and will take ages. This is aside from the high cost and build time of the units and research. ''Heroes'' Out of every single race in the entire game, the Plaguelord hero really did draw the short straw. They have almost inarguably the worst synergistic skills in the entire game. This is a serious downside to the race as there is little to really abuse with them. The race itself is not weak, but it isn't strong in many areas either. A Daemonslayer has the most synergistic options available, and rewards itself with a usable Leech in the future, but the class is almost a dud until then since it already 'bard's a 'bard' race. The basis of the Plaguelords is all about disease. Naturally, you'd assume there'd be some kind of sphere to aid you in the spreading of such ailments. The Poison Magic sphere is as close as you're going to get with that, since it can cast a spell which maxes the effects of disease and poison - but the Swarm do it better since poison does massive damage with the spell whilst disease merely weakens them. Most of the spell support is towards poison rather than disease, making it unfortunately an undesirable spell sphere to pick. Summoning Magic may seem good, but due to earlier access, the Dark Elves perform the magic in this sphere better. Addtionally, there is not so much demand for the fliers that the Summoning sphere creates since the Plaguelords already have good elemental coverage and anti-air weaponry. Whatever class you pick, it is highly likely that access to a spell sphere will be far greater than the toughness of a warrior. Out of all classes, there are a couple of desperate options. Necromancy can be used with a Deathknight for physical and Piercing resistances via the Doom Knight or Skeleton respectively (although that really is a long shot). Sage is a more useful class thanks to the Comprehension spell slashing the many unit upgrade research costs in half (at least) which can help alleviate the research issue. Perhaps the Archmage class could have its chance to shine by combining spells and abilities to make an easier life for the Plaguelords. Alternatively a simple Merchant could be used despite the race's -2 charisma modifier just to help with producing Hydras and Ghouls amongst some others. A Paladin can work with the Plaguelords in a special way, particularly at a higher level. This build revolves around access to both Healing Magic and a usable Leech thanks to the Paladin's physical resilience. Once the mana regeneration upgrades have been researched, the Leech Paladin can become an immensely hard barrier to take down. Lesser units get turned into mana for the hero, which can then be converted into a self healing spell. From then on, the Plaguelord Paladin can keep slaying units and use healing spells which make both the hero and the Plaguelord army very tough to take down, particularly the Hydras. If that's not enough, the hero can use the Resurrection spell to raise the fallen back to the player's side. Lastly, a Dragonslayer can be used with the Plaguelords to produce higher level Hydras, which if done properly could be quite deadly. Remember though, Hydras are very expensive, take a long time to produce and the elite ones require seperate building upgrades to fully access. This combination could work given enough time, but it is possible that the opponent's onslaught prior to this time would leave you wishing you could get Hydras out cheaper and faster. However, there is one huge flaw to this race/class combination: it is highly likely that choosing a Ssrathi Dragonslayer and playing as the Plaguelord race would be a far superior option simply due to synergistic access to Dragonmaster right at the start of the game. In 1.03, Dragonslayer's had Wealth but not the Dragonmaster skill. If only the Dragonslayer had both, because it would be a very viable choice - spamming points into Wealth until access to Dragonmaster could've provided the Plaguelords with cheap, powerful Hydras. Counters *The Plaguelords can only upgrade one unit at a time and at great cost. It will be quite a while before any of the units are upgraded properly. Even then, the units upgraded die very fast due to their lack of hits, armor and resistance so the upgrades are almost pointless later game. *Hydras are very expensive - particularly the upgraded ones (the Cryhohydra and Pyrohydra). Starve any Plaguelord of Gold and/or Crystal and they're pretty much finished since most of their units and researches rely on great amounts of these resources. In order to access these extremely expensive and somewhat underwhelming units, it even costs 500 Metal or Crystal just to gain access to either one via a building upgrade. That means you need to build more of the Hydra production buildings just to gain access to additional units. Considering that Pyrohydras (250 Gold 180 Crystal) cost almost twice the resources of a Giant (100 Metal 150 Stone), you've obviously let the Plaguelord take too many resources if you're somehow seeing these. *A lot of Plaguelord building destroyers such as the Eye of Flame have few hitpoints. Missile units will easily take care of them. *Keeping a Plaguelord busy is quite possibly the best tactic to use against them. If you keep the pressure on them, they are unlikely to afford Hydras and/or Bone Catapults. Lore 'After the Sundering in 1032 when the four Daemon Lords entered the world, Antharg, the Lord of Plague and weakest of the Four, fled to the fetid jungles and swamps of southeastern Etheria. Once there, he infected many creatures with cruel and terrible diseases until they warped and twisted into the inhabitants of what came to be known as the Realm of Plague. From the local serpents and reptiles, Antharg created multi-headed beasts called Hydras. When his experiments were finished, and he had bred them with Dragons, he even had hydras that could breathe fire and ice. Not content with this though, he introduced a plague into the local human populace of Colis Tarn and they slowly turned into the cannibalistic creatures known today as Ghouls. Occasionally one of the Ghouls is taken by Antharg and taught the ways of magic - such a creature becomes a Plague Priest, and they are feared throughout all of Etheria.' - http://www.enlight.com/wbc3/gameinfo_races.htm#3